Reyes, Monaliza
Prof. Issues in IS&T
BT502
November 11, 2021
TASK PERFORMANCE: INFORMATION PRIVACY
A journalist gained the trust of a public employee involved in a corruption scandal to write an
article about it. The journalist goes along with the employee, who provided the detail and information the
journalist needed to write the article. The journalist and the employee made an agreement that the
journalist would not publish information about the employee. The employee thought that the journalist
was his friend, but the journalist published still the article, which exposed a large corruption scandal that
had been going on for years. The employee was not named in the article as the source of the information
but was arrested with others involved in the scandal following the publication of the article. The employee
was also publicly attacked on social media and is unable to find employment.
1. Was the way the journalist treated the employee acceptable? Why or why not?
It is very unacceptable in all aspects. The journalist treated the employee as a tool
for its bad intention. Just to gain information, the journalist steals sensitive information
from the employee without even thinking what the effect on the employee would be
whenever that information will be exposed. Hence, by doing that, it will not only cost the
employee’s employment but will be labeled as a whistleblower as well. And because of
that, the employee’s dignity will be attacked. With that being said, the journalist's
treatment of the employee is morally unacceptable.
2. Should the employee have realized that talking to the journalist could result in the
corruption being exposed?
Yes. The employee should know his/her limitation. He/she should know that
trusting person that much could cause such thing as being exposed. The employee should
have known the hidden agenda of the journalist and being asked about something private
by that kind of profession is suspicious. The employee should focus on the work ethics of
the company, most particularly, do not expose the things that should only be around the
company’s personnel only. But we really cannot blame the employee because he/she
thought that the journalist was his/her friend, but the thing is the employee should have
thought first before saying anything and know the ethics of an employee.
3. How is this case related to information privacy?
This is connected to information privacy because in this case, it has information
disclosures and with the information being exposed, it has now resulted in harm to the
company and to the employee’s dignity. The journalist took the advantage of privacy and
carry out a plan by exposing it for his/her own sake. The journalist collects information
from the employee and disseminates data by making an article without even thinking the
data privacy or data protection. When the data that should be kept private gets in the
wrong hand, bad things can happen. And it is connected to the case because the private
data have been shared with the journalist which has bad intentions and because of that,
the bad thing had happened to the employee.